


Eight Months

by Naomida



Series: The Torch Club [1]
Category: Fantastic Four, Invaders (Marvel)
Genre: Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Timeline What Timeline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-09
Updated: 2016-06-09
Packaged: 2018-07-14 01:03:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7145723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naomida/pseuds/Naomida
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim isn't the only Torch out there missing his family. Fortunately, Johnny has his back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eight Months

“ _Soooo_ , I heard you got a super-powered cat, uh?” was what greeted Jim when he entered his living-room that evening after a long day at work doing absolutely nothing.

His first instinct was to ask the blond stretched out on his couch what the hell he was doing here, but he managed to hold his tongue long enough to reach the couch himself and sit down on the armrest closest to the blond mop of hair.

“What are you doing here Johnny?” he asked with a sigh, feeling strangely tired considering that his body wasn't capable of tiring out.

“I got back on Earth and got bored so I thought 'hey, why not go see how my fellow Torch is doing' cause you know, we gotta have each other's flamin' back, right?”

Jim saw right through it – not that it was hard to do when Johnny was pouting miserably and looked like he hadn't seen a shower in four days. His clothes also looked like they were meant to be worn as pajamas instead of something to wear out.

“Alright.” he said after a small pause, because he didn't know what else to say to comfort the other man. They weren't that close and truthfully, Jim hadn't been in the mood to chitchat for a long time now. It was a small miracle that he remembered to act like a human and do things like blink or even cough when the right social cues were presented.

Hell, he couldn't even remember the last time he had pretended to eat something.

Johnny didn't move nor try to talk like he usually did, and even Jim could tell that this wasn't normal and there really was something wrong with him.

“Alright!” he repeated, clasping his hands together and getting up, smiling down at the blond superhero when he craned his neck to look at him. “You're bored, so let's do something.”

“Like what?”

'Uh… I don't know, we could take a walk around the camp.”

Johnny silently got up and followed him out, looking as excited as if Jim had just proposed that they go have a few round against Galactus or something.

They did their first lap around Camp Hammond without uttering a single word, Johnny never looking away from his shoes apart from when they had crossed path with Niels who was climbing a tree and scaring two obviously new SHIELD agents half to death.

“You know,” started Johnny when they reached his quarters again and started back on their path for another lap, slipping his hands into his pockets, “I'm not stupid and you look about as depressed as I feel.”

“I could say the same.” replied Jim, earning a rueful smirk that was very short-lived. “It's just been hard to accommodate to this new life.”

Johnny snorted, like he wasn't believe a single word of it.

“How long has he been gone?” he asked.

Jim felt the bottom of his stomach plummet down to the heels of his shoes and had to force himself to keep on walking.

“I have no idea what you're talking about.”

Johnny finally looked up and met his gaze, rolling his eyes when he was sure Jim was watching, and had the audacity to raise an eyebrow and smirk again.

“ _Please_ , Namor talks to my sister, or at least he used to. I know you're probably missing him, so I'm asking you: how long has he been gone?”

Eight months, three weeks, six days and twenty two hours.

“A long time.” he replied, keeping his tone totally normal and flat and unaffected.

After all, who was counting?

“It must be hard.” said Johnny, offering him a sympathetic smile, “Especially since he was dead before, right?”

Jim nodded, not trusting his voice for a full minute and strangely not feeling his face anymore.

“I just got him back, right before he left, but I can't complain. Not when it's what makes him happy.”

And as long as Toro was happy, so was Jim. Or at least it was what he kept on telling himself.

Johnny just hummed and kept quiet until they once again passed the tree where the cat was now lazily napping on a branch.

“You know, I've been spending a lot of time with the Inhumans lately and uh… I know how it feels to have your family be so far away from you. I guess I could probably get you two hooked up on some interplanetary skype. That's what I use to keep in touch with Ben, and others when I'm the one away.”

Jim tried to keep his surprise from showing on his face but he had never been very good at that and he knew he had failed when the lines on Johnny's face smoothed out and he stopped walking, putting a hand on his forearm to get him to stop too.

“Hey,” he said, almost softly, “you know you can always ask me for that kind of thing, that's no big deal, on the contrary. I owe you so much after all, after you've given me my power back and I–”

“You don't owe me a single thing.” Jim cut him, clasping his shoulder with his left hand and squeezing reassuringly – and the gesture was so familiar yet so foreign, it ached. “Helping you get your flame back, that was my honest pleasure, and I don't want to hear any of this owning me something nonsense.”

Johnny started blinking way too hard and fast for it to be natural, and Jim didn't look away from his damp eyes, feeling the back of his own get weirdly hot and damp too.

“You said it, we gotta have each other's back.”

Nodding, Johnny rocked back on his heels and dragged his free hand through his too long hair, gripping Jim's arm tighter with the other one.

“I… I don't know what to say.”

“Just tell me more about this interplanetary skype, and then we can talk about who it is that you're missing over a beer.”

Johnny continued to blink at the tears in his eyes for a few seconds before giving out a watery laugh.

“You actually drink beer?”

“No,” sheepishly replied Jim, squeezing his shoulder one more time before letting go just as his forearm was freed, “but I'm pretty sure there's someone in the camp who does.”

“Okay,” immediately replied Johnny, starting to walk again, “but I want to pet your cat if I have to pour my heart out over cheap stolen beer.”

“That can be arranged.” smiled Jim, following him back to his quarters and already feeling lighter than he had in eight months.


End file.
